Washington Wizards Make Insanely Bad Decision to Keep Ernie Grunfeld

Ernie Grunfeld has been the president of the Washington Wizards since 2003 and has constructed rosters that have won a total of one playoff series in that time.

Of course, owner Ted Leonsis has decided to reward his failure of a team president with a contract extension until at least the end of the 2013-14 season—according to a report by Michael Lee of The Washington Post.

Update: SI’s Chris Mannix has confirmed that the Wizards have extended Grunfeld’s contract.

Fans of the Wizards and the NBA in general have to be perplexed by this decision. Lee’s sources tried to explain the rational behind this extension:

"

Amid speculation that Grunfeld’s job could be in jeopardy after overseeing four of the worst consecutive seasons, winning percentage wise, in franchise history, Leonsis weighed Grunfeld’s ability to accrue draft picks and salary-cap space -- and move unwanted or expensive players -- in his decision to retain Grunfeld.

"

This is the same Ernie Grunfeld that gave Gilbert Arenas a $111 million contract after he blew out his knee and $50M to Antawn Jamison for his decent contributions to a team that managed to win a single playoff series.

It was obvious after the 2008-09 season that this team was going nowhere and was not a real contender in the Eastern Conference.

The Wizards president thought otherwise and instead opted to start flipping important picks to rebuild with for marginal players like Mike Miller and Randy Foye.

That plan completely blew up in his face and someone must have screamed at Grunfeld until he finally got it through his head that it was time to rebuild.

The team has a disgusting record of 282-438 during his tenure and only looks to remain at the bottom of the league unless they get extremely lucky in the draft and players start developing quickly.

Leonsis should have dismissed Grunfeld after this pitiful season and brought in a fresh face. There are plenty of proven and talented GMs just rotting away at menial jobs, such as Kevin Pritchard—who is now working with the Pacers as a player personnel director.

Washington has some decent young pieces to build around, they need to find someone who knows how to properly construct a full roster and not overpay for middling talent. Grunfeld simply isn’t the guy for this task.